Never let a man think you’re smarter

It seems men are more stupid than once believed. Well, maybe not stupid so much as insecure. Yes, that’s the sweeping generalization I think can be made after reading this New York Times report.

A two-year Columbia University study of speed daters found that “men avoided women whom they perceived to be smarter than themselves. The same held true for measures of career ambition – a woman could be ambitious, just not more ambitious than the man considering her for a date.”

Researcher Ray Fisman (an economist) didn’t hide his disappointment in the results. “I guess I had hoped that they had evolved beyond this…So, yes, the stereotypes appear to be true: We males are a gender of fragile egos in search of a pretty face and are threatened by brains or success that exceeds our own.”

While this is somewhat amusing on the surface it has huge repercussions in the real world (okay, maybe speed dating is the real world). How does this play out in the workplace? What does this mean for heterosexual couples in which the woman is attaining greater success in her career? How should an ambitious, intelligent, single heterosexual woman who is also invested in finding a partner present herself in dating situations? Are we really still asking woman to play dumb if they want to find romance?

Well, I’m depressed. If only I had an unsuccessful partner to make me feel like a real man.